So I haven't managed to update regularly, as I'm sure you've all noticed. I'm really sorry, as I've said before. I just don't have as much time to write anymore. I started this story by posting a chapter every Sunday, but because of my lack of time I'm gonna have to change that to every second Sunday. I'm really sorry and I hope you all understand.
Alec wasn't sure how long he walked, Magnus in his arms. All he knew was that by the time Magnus started waking up Asmodeous's home was far away and Lilith's castle looked less than a few hours from them.
He stopped when Magnus started moving and laid him down on the ground, sitting down beside him. He gave him some water and drank some himself while waiting for him to wake up.
Magnus woke up slowly. At first he could just feel. He could feel that he was in motion, and then suddenly he wasn't. He was thankful when he felt water run down his dry throat.
A while later he slowly opened his eyes to be met with only red. Red sky, red sand. Only Alec separated himself with his dark hair and pale skin. Magnus blinked a few times to get used to the light before moving to sit up. Almost immediately he felt a hand on his shoulder, supporting him.
"Are you okay?" Alec asked, worried eyes studying Magnus's face.
"I'm fine, Alexander," Magnus told him, giving him a soft smile. "How did we get here? Did you carry me all this way?" he questioned.
"It wasn't really that far," Alec said with a shrug. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you want some water? Food?" He asked. Magnus shook his head.
"I promise I'm fine. I just have a small headache, but it'll wear off," he assured him.
"Okay. If you're sure. Let's rest for a while before we go to Lilith," Alec said.
"Alexander, we should end her as soon as possible. If Asmodeus was telling the truth and she's looking for a way out of Edom… what if she finds it? We can't let that happen."
"But if we go now we'll most likely get killed!" Alec protested. "It's better if we wait a little, rest and get our forces back," he said.
"Fine," Magnus sighed. "But just a little bit."
"Thank you." Alec pulled Magnus close to him, kissing his forehead before lying back on the uncomfortable ground. But at least they were both there, comfortable in each other's presence.
Magnus didn't fight it, but let himself be pulled down. He cuddled close to Alec, resting his head in the crook of his neck and placing a few kisses there. He closed his eyes and once again drifted off.
Alec tried not to fall asleep. He couldn't sleep in enemy territory, especially not considering Magnus was asleep as well. But after a while he couldn't stop as his eyes drooped shut and he slowly lost consciousness of his surroundings.
He woke up again a little while later, Magnus still asleep on top of him. Alec was sure he'd heard something… but as he looked around himself he saw no one. He carefully pushed Magnus off him and stood up, hand on the hilt of his sword. But still there was no one, nothing. Slowly Alec sat down again, still alert.
Magnus slept soundly, probably still healing from the poison. Alec watched over him, letting his mind wander. He wondered what was going on back in Idris. He wondered what his father thought of him, and if he would ever change his mind. Where were they supposed to go after this? If Magnus still wasn't allowed to come back, what would they do? Alec was the prince, he still had his duty. He loved Magnus, more than he ever thought was possible. If it came down to choosing between his responsibilities and Magnus, what choice would he have? He'd made peace with living without love a long time ago, he'd almost forgotten about the feeling of denying himself. Could he ever go back to believing that? To believe that he could live without anyone by his side? Would he even make a good king if he wasn't happy? His father had lost his wife, and in return, he'd banned an entire species, an entire culture. If Alec gave up on Magnus, would he be any better?
Alec was pulled out of his thoughts by a sound. It hadn't come from Magnus. It had been the same sound as earlier. Alec was sure this was the sound that had woken him. It sounded like a growl, but Alec didn't see anything capable of making that noise. It was just him and Magnus, and endless plains of red sand. Alec heard the sound again. It sounded like it was coming from… over them?
Alec looked up and couldn't hold back a gasp. There, right over their heads, was a big, dark red dragon. Alec didn't understand how he hadn't seen it earlier, or heard it. It was so big, yet so silent. Alec wondered if there was some kind of magic in the picture.
Alec stared at the dragon. He completely forgot everything his father had told him about them being evil, dangerous, beasts. But Alec didn't see any of that in this.
The dragon landed silently in front of them. In a way, it reminded Alec of a cat. Its eyes were slitted, almost like Magnus's real ones. Except where Magnus's glowed of molten gold the dragon had a soft red.
It stood a little away from them, tail swishing slowly from side to side as red eyes looked them both over. Alec didn't make any move for his sword when it approached slowly.
It had a muzzle, like a horse, just much bigger. It had two horns, but they weren't bent forwards like the ones of a bull. These were short, bent backward, and elegant. Almost like they were more for aesthetic than for defending. The wings were feathered in different shades of red and orange. Despite being covered in scales, the rest of the body seemed just as soft as the wings. Alec wanted to reach out and touch it, but didn't want to scare the dragon. He kept his distance and let it come closer at its own pace.
The dragon approached Magnus, and Alec instinctively reached for his sword. But it only ran its muzzle softly over Magnus's body, almost as if trying to comfort him. It turned to Alec after a while, and it looked like it was going to approach before a scream tore itself through the air. Not a human scream, no human could have made that sound. The dragon looked up, scared, before taking flight. It flew towards the castle just as silently as it had come.
Alec felt his blood run cold when the dragon landed on top of one of the towers, barely visible. What if the dragon worked for Lilith? It had a perfect color, could blend in with the sky and scout her surroundings. If Lilith knew about the prophecy she would try to stop it, right? What if the dragon was now gonna tell Lilith where they were? Could they fight her off if they were taken by surprise? Or even if they weren't, could they defeat her if she knew they were coming?
Alec shook away his thoughts as he saw Magnus started moving. He moved to sit by his side, gripping his hand tightly. "Hey there, you're okay," Alec said softly, pushing a strand of hair away from his forehead. It took only a few minutes before Magnus opened his eyes. "How are you feeling?" Alec asked almost immediately.
"'M fine," Magnus mumbled. He looked fine as well, so Alec sat back with a sigh.
"You can rest a little longer if you want," he told him, looking up at the sky again, almost expecting to see the dragon there.
The sky was empty.
Magnus felt like he was flying. Ever since he'd opened his eyes. Not in a bad way, on the contrary. He felt better than ever. The headache from the poison was gone. All his muscles that had been sore from riding and practicing were relaxed, where he had earlier felt his magic nearing its end he now felt like he was twice as strong as he had been.
He sat up slowly, looking at Alec. "What's going on?" he asked as he saw Alec looking up at the sky.
"Nothing," Alec said, not that Magnus was convinced. "Are you ready to go?" Alec then asked, looking at Magnus. Magnus felt like there was something he wasn't telling him, but decided it was nothing. They were about to go kill the queen of hell, Alec had the right to be acting weird.
"I guess," he finally said, standing up. "Lead the way, my prince."
Alec turned to the castle, hesitating for a second before he started walking. Magnus didn't know what had caused it, but not only was he feeling excellent physically, his mood was also much better. He had more faith now that they would defeat Lilith than he'd had before he fell asleep. It was like something calm had been laid over him, like some kind of energy keeping his soul calm.
Magnus wondered how long they had to walk. The castle seemed like it was moving. Sometimes it was right ahead of them, and then suddenly it seemed an entire day away.
"Is it just me or is the castle moving?" Magnus asked and looked at Alec. "Hey... it's all going to be okay," he said gently and took Alec's hand.
"Yeah, I know," Alec mumbled. "I'm just… I mean, what if something happens? What if you… I won't be able to live with myself if you get hurt," he confessed.
"Alexander, don't let this confuse you. You will win and I will be fine," Magnus promised.
"I want to believe that, Magnus. I really do. But what chance can we possibly have against the queen of hell?" Magnus cupped Alec's cheek, turning his head to look into his eyes.
"If anyone can do it it's us. It's your destiny to kill her, there is nothing to stop you."
"You seem so sure about this… How can you know?" Alec asked.
"I feel it, Alexander. I've never been more certain about anything," Magnus said, squeezing Alec's hand softly.
Alec smiled a bit and nodded.
"You have to believe in it as well."
"I try, I really try."
"I know, Alexander. Now let's go kick Lilith's ass, huh?"
"Yeah, let's go," Alec agreed with a soft smile.
They walked for a few hours, and the castle eventually seemed to be getting closer. Alec was nervous, but he held on tightly to Magnus's faith in them. Once the castle seemed less than an hour away they stopped to rest and eat.
Something that never left Alec's thoughts was the dragon. He kept wondering what it had done and if it was telling Lilith about them. If Lilith had dragons on her side, how could they possibly win? Alec knew he should tell Magnus about the dragon, he really should. Magnus deserved to know what they were up against. But he looked so hopeful… Alec didn't want to crush it. He would tell him. Soon. Once they reached the castle.
Soon enough they were back to walking. Red sand under them, red sky over them. The castle was a brown color, the only thing that wasn't red.
"I hate it here, everything looks the same and it's too warm and I just want to get this over with," Alec mumbled.
"I know what you mean," Magnus agreed with a sigh. "We'll be out of here soon."
Again they walked in silence, the castle approaching till it eventually was right in front of them. The walls around it were like the walls around Idris, but that was where the resemblance stopped. The castle was dark, there was no lights in the windows, nothing. No people around the castle, no knights and no servants. No horses, no animals, no life. Alec definitely didn't like it.
"Well, we can't exactly back down now," Magnus said after a moment of silence.
"Well, we could, but we wouldn't exactly have anywhere to go. I have no idea how we're supposed to get out of here."
"We'll think of that later," Magnus said, not sounding very worried about it. Alec didn't get how he could stay so calm.
"Okay then… let's go," Alec finally said. They stepped inside the walls together. Alec eyed the tall towers, wondering whether the dragons were hiding there or somewhere else. Would they come from inside the castle? From the sky? It was driving Alec crazy.
"Alec… will you tell if you are just nervous about Lilith or if there is something else you are not telling me about?" Magnus asked.
Alec looked down again, shaking his head. He had to tell him. Now. He knew how much Magnus wanted to help the dragons, how he felt about them being used in the war… now he could be forced to kill them. "There might be dragons in there," he finally said.
"Really?" Magnus questioned, a huge grin spreading over his face. "That's great! They can help us."
"No, Magnus. I think the dragons are on her side, Lilith's side. We… we might have to kill them," Alec said.
"What? No. We can't kill the dragons. They can help us," Magnus insisted.
"What? How do you think they can help us? Magnus, they are her pets."
"Dragons aren't anyone's pets. If anything they're prisoners. Alec, the dragons might help us win this! There's no way Lilith can fight me, you, and a bunch of dragons at the same time."
"Well, what if you're wrong? Us fighting Lilith is already impossible, now imagine a bunch of dragons against us as well."
"Let's just go," Magnus said with a sigh, moving towards the castle again. "Whatever happens, at least we're together."
"Yes, at least we are together." They reached the door, and Magnus placed a hand on the handle.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Ready," Alec nodded. Without further hesitation, the door was opened.